All central hospitals under scanner for graft: Vardhan

The central government has placed all systems at its hospitals, including the premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences, under a “critical review” to identify and end corrupt practices, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday.

“There are many aspects to corruption in hospitals, which as a medico, I know exist. If money is made in the allocation of beds or as kickbacks from suppliers, it is sleaze. What is equally corrupt is the silent practice of reserving beds and facilities for employees or VIPs. I intend rectifying both these forms of corruption,” Vardhan said in a statement.

“In my first 90 days in office, hardly a day has passed without inquiring into the transparency of the ministry and its outposts. Very soon the results are going to be in the public domain.”

The minister also said the alleged removal of Sanjeev Chaturvedi as the central vigilance officer of AIIMS was done to ensure the Central Vigilance Commission’s (CVC) sanctity.

He said there was an anomaly in the posting of a CVO at AIIMS without the CVC’s sanction. “He (Chaturvedi) has neither been suspended, nor transferred,” Vardhan said.

“Chaturvedi’s appointment as CVO was opposed by the CVC in 2012 and 2013. In 2011, the then UPA government had tried to demolish public faith in the CVC by appointing a tainted bureaucrat at its head. I, therefore, did my bit to restore CVC’s image,” he said.